Joatham

JOATHAM. - Son of Gideon (Judg. 9:7-21, 57). He was the only one who escaped the massacre by his brother Abimelech (v., no. 2), who, after their father's death, slaughtered all his brothers and had himself proclaimed king by the Shechemites. Having gone up Mount Gerizim, J. then addressed to the citizens of Shechem the apologue of the trees that choose a king (Judg. 9:8-15).

It is the oldest example of an apologue or fable in the Bible, and one of the most celebrated in all of world literature, in four rhythmic stanzas corresponding to the four trees adduced. By first making the fruit-bearing plants most common in Palestine speak (the olive, the fig, the vine), then the bramble in whose shade the trees end up asking protection, J. skillfully highlights the bad choice made by the Shechemites in entrusting themselves to a bloodthirsty king, whereas his father Gideon (or Jerubbaal), though he had saved Israel from the Midianites, had constantly refused to accept the royal dignity offered to him. The apologue is a reproach to the Shechemites who, through their coexistence with Abimelech, had shown themselves ungrateful toward the family of Gideon, so ferociously suppressed. Then, to escape the snares of his cruel brother, J. fled to Beer and appeared no more.

Gaetano Stano